Cons

Bottom Line

Livedrive is a solid online backup service hampered by a slow, clunky wrapper.

June 5, 2018Max Eddy

Using an online backup service is a good way to ensure that you don't accidentally lose access to important files. Livedrive is a straightforward backup option that offers strong apps across desktop and mobile platforms and good versioning capabilities. However, it costs more than competitors and lacks top-tier features such as File Explorer integration and a truly continuous backup option. While Livedrive is a solid choice, our top recommendations are Acronis True Image, for its ransomware protection; IDrive, for its value; and SOS Online Backup, for its tight security.

(Editors' Note: Livedrive is owned by j2 Global, the parent company of PCMag publisher, Ziff Davis.)

Pricing and Setup

Livedrive offers three different consumer subscription plans, though the segmentation of features in these plans is a bit odd. The least expensive, called Backup, costs $8 per month. It gives you unlimited storage space and can be used on one PC or Mac. The next-most-expensive plan, Briefcase, costs $16 per month, but it doesn't include any backup capabilities. Livedrive's Briefcase lets you access, edit, and sync your files across devices and online; it works similarly to a Dropbox folder. This plan includes 2TB of storage space and apps for both desktop and mobile platforms.

The most expensive personal subscription option, Pro Suite, costs $25 per month. You can use it on up to five PCs or Macs as well as an unlimited number of tablets or mobile devices. This plan includes unlimited backup storage and 5TB of Briefcase storage. Livedrive offers free 14-day trials for all of its plans, but you have to enter credit card information to take advantage of that, and there's no free plan like that offered by competitor iDrive. Subscribers can save money by paying annually; Backup, Briefcase, and Pro Suite respectively cost $84, $156, and $240 per year if paid up front, which equates to a savings of about two months.

Livedrive also offers business plans, the $50-per-month Business Express and the $160-per-month Business Standard, supporting three and 10 users, respectively. These plans offer collaboration and backup tools for organizations, with the ability to add more users for a fee. We've also tested Livedrive Business (the collective name for its enterprise plans) and found that it offers many of the standard features of entry-level cloud storage solutions. But it too is expensive, and it lacks transparent data-protection policies.

Compared with other backup services, Livedrive is expensive. For example, iDrive costs $69.50 per year for 2TB of storage. Backblaze offers unlimited storage for only $50 per year. Also, most services don't charge extra for folder syncing. Acronis True Image and SpiderOak One both offer this capability at no extra cost. The vast majority of the services in our cloud storage and file-sharing roundup also offer at least some storage for free. Google Drive and Box offer 15GB and 10GB of space respectively. Microsoft OneDrive only gives you 5GB free, but if you pay $69.95 annually for an Office 365 subscription, you get the entire Microsoft Office suite along with 1TB of OneDrive storage.

Setting up Livedrive is simple. All you need to do is sign up for a trial with an email address, password, and credit card information. Livedrive apps are available for Macs and PCs, as well as Android and iOS devices. We tested Livedrive Pro on a Lenovo ThinkPad T470 running Windows 10. For evaluating the mobile apps, we used a Google Pixel running Android 8.1.

Desktop Backups

Livedrive's desktop app is compact and attractive. The only real design drawback is that the window isn't resizable. Livedrive organizes information and settings across five tabs in a top menu: Dashboard, Settings, Restore, Support, and Web. The Dashboard shows you the status of the latest backup task, along with when the next one is set to run (you can run it manually), and how much storage you have left. You can also see the status of your uploads and downloads.

The Settings section breaks down into three modules, Backup Selection, Security Settings, and Advanced. By default, it shows common folders like Desktop, Documents, and Pictures, though you can add any other individual folders via its built-in file browser. Once you make your selection, you can select how often (as frequent as every hour) or at what time it scans your selected folders for changes. We prefer the more sophisticated approach of other services. Acronis True Image, for example, includes a truly continuous backup option and the option to run different backup jobs on different schedules. This might be useful if, for example, you want to back up your Documents folder every day but only need to run a full disk backup every month. However, Livedrive doesn't have a simple full disk backup option; you need to select every folder individually under the C: drive to back everything up.

Security settings are a bit sparse; you can encrypt your storage Briefcase (though it doesn't tell you how it encrypts these files) or set the program to require your account password every time you launch it. Our Livedrive contact explained that this option encrypts the local copy of all Briefcase files using AES-128 security. If you use this in conjunction with the password requirement, this prevents anyone who steals your laptop from accessing your files. Livedrive uses TLS encryption when transferring files to and from its servers, but competitors offer more advanced features. For example, SpiderOak One encrypts your data with a local key before it uploads it to online storage. SOS Online Backup offers similar security measures.

Acronis True image goes one step further with its anti-ransomware software, which it spun off into a free standalone product. PCMag's lead Security Analyst, Neil Rubenking, reviewed Acronis' Ransomware Protection and rated it four stars.

Livedrive organizes other settings in the Advanced settings module. The Bandwidth option, for example, lets you limit the bandwidth the program uses for uploads or downloads. You can also exclude folders or file types from your backup, and you can set upload priorities for the former. The last feature of note is Livedrive's Integrity Check, which verifies each one of your files online against those saved on your hard drive to ensure that everything is consistent. The amount of time it takes to verify all of these is, of course, dependent on the overall size of your backup, but be aware that running this check temporarily locks out the rest of the application.

The next tab over, Restore, lets you retrieve the latest (or previous versions) of your files from either your online backup or from your Briefcase. Under the Backup Selection section, it organizes items based on the original computer from which you uploaded it. You can easily restore everything in your Briefcase with a single button. You choose the time period you want to restore from, the destination folder, and how it deals with duplicate files. Livedrive keeps up to 30 previous versions of files from your backup selection or your Briefcase for an unlimited period. It also keeps deleted files for 30 days before permanently getting rid of them. This feature worked fine with a text file that we uploaded to the Briefcase and edited at intervals.

Livedrive divides the Support tab into a FAQs and Support section and one dedicated to Tutorials, though both ultimately lead to Livedrive's website. If you click the Web tab, it also redirects you to the online portal. Notably, the Need Help With Restore? button from the Restore tab links to an unfinished web page at the time of this writing.

Web Interface

Livedrive's web interface features a clean and consistent design. You navigate the console via a series of menu links: Devices, Latest Files, Photo Gallery, Briefcase, Account, Download, and Support. Devices and Latest Files work as you expect, you can drill down into individual devices or folder structures to get to specific items. You can search for particular files but it doesn't let you sort by any file attributes. You can choose to display either deleted or hidden files, or if you right-click on a particular file, you can download it directly or view its properties.

Livedrive's photo gallery functions like any other web gallery, but it's a nicer way to view folders than a typical file menu. It sorts photos in reverse chronological order, but there's no way to organize them any further. Folders or some sort of geolocational data attribute would vastly improve this area. The main problem is that this pop-out style gallery does not stand out in the crowded online photo storage space. Click on any image in Google Drive, for example, and it opens a similar window. Flickr offers infinitely more options with public photo galleries, such as commenting, favoriting, and even creating photo books. You can forget about advanced features like AI-based object searches or even just tagging content as well.

Livedrive doesn't include an option to enable two-factor authentication in the account settings, which should be standard for any web service that stores private data. You can view your plan information and update personal information (we're not sure why you should, though), as well as changing the web address at which friends and families can download your publicly shared files. You can also share files directly with individuals. In this case, Livedrive sends the recipient a one-time access link as well as a username and password for subsequent access attempts. One limitation is that you can only share files stored in your Briefcase. If you want, you can also share direct links to files via Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Download brings you to the correct installer for your device and platform. Livedrive has a modern Windows 10 app, which mashes together the web console's features with those of the mobile apps. The Support tab displays an odd mix of service information, knowledgebase links, the Livedrive Blog, and the current list of File Exclusions.

Performance

We tested the backup services by timing how long it takes each one to upload two separate 100MB test folders with mixed media types.

Livedrive fared well, uploading the file sets in an average time of 1:12 (minutes:seconds). This is marginally slower than Editors' Choices Acronis True Image (0:51) and SOS Online Backup (1:05). However, it is quicker than top-rated iDrive, which completed the test in 1:50. If you need to back up a lot of files, finding an online backup service with fast upload speeds should be a top priority. Check out the chart below to see how the rest of the services scored.

Mobile Backup

We had no trouble installing Livedrive on a Google Pixel. Once you download the app, all you need to do is log in to the service with your credentials. As with the desktop and web applications, the mobile app has a clean design and good interface, though some elements, such as the folder icons, look outdated. App performance is solid. The hidden left-hand menu lists all of the same options as the web interface. You can download, open (only images have previews), or share any of your backup files as well as anything you've added to your Briefcase.

However, the mobile app does include a couple of new options worth noting, including Mobile Backup, Local Storage, and Music & Playlist. If you enable mobile backup, Livedrive can automatically upload all of your photos and videos to your online storage in the background. This is useful for shutter-happy mobile photographers or even just those who want redundant copies of their files. Still, if you are interested in storing your photos from your phone to the cloud, Google and Apple both integrate superior backup solutions on their respective platforms, Google Drive and iCloud.

The Local Storage option allows you to browse through all of your local device folders and upload anything to your Livedrive storage. The Music & Playlist section organizes all of your uploaded media files into a cloud player of sorts. However, we were initially unable to play any music, despite uploading music to the briefcase, backing up the same files, and adding them to the local device storage.

Our contact at Livedrive explained that in order for music to show up in this section, you need to navigate to the file in your Briefcase or backup storage and add it to a playlist. Then, in the Music section, you need to press the Start Playlist button. This method works, but the process feels convoluted. More importantly, I'm not sure who exactly Livedrive intends to use it. Even if you don't subscribe to a music streaming service such as Slacker Radio or Spotify, there are just so many other better apps for organizing and enjoying your music collection.

Simple Backups

Both the online backup and file-syncing product spaces are very competitive, so it can be difficult for any individual service to stand out from the pack. For example, Livedrive lacks the ransomware protection of Acronis True Image and the control of SOS Online Backup. The service also lacks a truly continuous backup option and two-factor authentication, both of which are common features among the top choices. Livedrive is also not as full-featured as Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive when it comes to online storage and syncing, especially when you consider their respective office suites. Livedrive's unlimited storage is a plus, and it's among the fastest services in our performance testing, but those merits don't quite justify its high price.

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About the Author

Max Eddy is a Software Analyst, taking a critical eye to Android apps and security services. He's also PCMag's foremost authority on weather stations and digital scrapbooking software. When not polishing his tinfoil hat or plumbing the depths of the Dark Web, he can be found working to discern the 100 Best Android Apps.

Prior to PCMag, Max wrote for the International Digital Times, The International Science Times, and The Mary Sue. He has also been known to write for Geek.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @wmaxeddy. See Full Bio